Indians Prospect Insider

For five and a half innings Monday night, the Clippers were on way to a win in their game against Charlotte, but a late rally propelled the Knights past Columbus in the series opener between the two clubs. Columbus, after splitting a series with Charlotte at Huntington Park last week, fell to the Knights, 5-2, to begin a four-game series.

The Akron Aeros fell short to the Reading Phillies after a ten innings of play on Monday, 4-3. The Phillies took a quick 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning on two fielding errors by Akron and two stolen bases. The Aeros got the run back in the top of the seventh led by a line drive double to left field by right fielder Thomas Neal.

Another Monday is here, and that means it is time to once again go "Sailing with the Clippers". Andrew Holleran catches everyone up on the week that was for the Indians' Triple-A affiliate with recaps of all the games, who is playing well and not playing well, a transaction rundown and lots more.

Tony chimes in with his weekly "3 Up, 3 Down" feature with a different twist this week by noting his three “up” and three “down” performances at the Indians’ Single-A level this season, plus a few bonus players. As always, insight gathered from talking with scouts, coaches and executives inside and outside the organization are used when talking about each of these players: Cody Anderson, Shawn Armstrong, Kyle Blair, Alex Lavisky, Jake Lowery, Carlos Moncrief, Jeremie Tice, and LeVon Washington.

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers get their season underway tonight as they open up on the road in Jamestown at 7:05 PM ET. The Cleveland Indians' short-season Single-A affiliate is loaded up with several first, second and third year players, and Matt Miller previews 2012 edition of the Scrappers, complete with quotes from Tyler Naquin, Joe Wendle and others.

The Indians lost another series as the Pirates clubbed them 9-5 yesterday, sending them to their fifth loss in their last six games. The Indians are reeling right now, and tonight the Reds come into town for a three game set after sweeping the Tribe in three games at their house last week. Kevin Dean provides his "second thoughts" on yesterday's disappointing Father's Day loss.

Cord Phelps is continuing his streaky nature, on the good side over the past few games. Nick Weglarz rocked another multi-base hit today, continuing a resurgence that began when the Indians took him off the 40-man roster. Steven Wright, Jesus Aguilar, Giovanny Urshella, Carlos Moncrief and a host of Indians minor league ballplayers had big days, but the top of the heap goes to a kid who went 5-for-5 on the day, sparing a ten-run inning for his team. Join Jim Pete for a Father's Day ATF...

The Akron Aeros fell to the Reading Phillies, 4-2, at First Energy Field Sunday. Starting for Akron was knuckleballer Steve Wright. Wright saw 25 batters in his six innings on the mound, walking only one and matching his season high of seven strikeouts ending his term with an ERA of 1.79. However, the Phillies got three hits off of Wright putting them up to an early 4-0 lead in the first four innings.

Seemingly out of the game, down five, the Carolina Mudcats put together a rally for the ages to beat the Salem Red Sox 14-8 on Sunday afternoon at LewisGale Field. The Mudcats scored 10 runs in the eighth, eight of those runs on eight hits with two outs. Tyler Sturdevant tossed a scoreless seventh for the win. The Mudcats finish the first half of the season 32-38, while Salem comes to the halfway point at 41-27-1.

It was a neck-and-neck affair for eight innings, but a big ninth ultimately ensured a victory for the Columbus Clippers on Sunday, as they beat the Gwinnett Braves by a final score of 6-2. The stats for both teams were almost identical across the board, and the Braves actually outhit the Clippers 11-9, but Columbus had the advantage where it counted.

the Lake County Captains ended the first half of the regular season with a heartbreaking loss to the Dayton Dragons on Sunday in front of a Father’s Day crowd of 3,701. Lefthander Shawn Morimando started for the Captains and allowed two runs in the first inning.

Major League Baseball created a new rules system for the 2012 major league draft that many are still trying to figure out. The Cleveland Indians went into the draft with a play. IPI's draft guru Jeff Ellis focuses his thoughts not only on the Indians top ten draft, but also on the rest of the best...and worst. Which team does Jeff think had the best draft in 2012? Check it out, after the jump...

The Lake County Captains (31-37) swatted two homers and defeated the Dayton Dragons (29-40) by a score of 11-2. Lake County had a big five run inning in the bottom of the third inning. The Captains sent eight men to the plate and used a two run double by Jerrud Sabourin and a RBI triple by Todd Hankins in the inning to fuel the five run frame. It was a 6-0 game headed to the fourth inning.

Tony talks about all kinds of things in his weekly Indians notebook today. He talks about the disappointing season to date of catcher Carlos Santana but how the team has recently been down this road before with another All Star caliber catcher. He also gets into all the draft signings, the process of getting the players into the organization, Matt LaPorta's demotion, Michael Brantley's hitting streak and more.

A wild pitch in the ninth inning Saturday night was the turning point as the Akron Aeros slipped by the Reading Phillies 6-4, in the second game of a doubleheader at First Energy Stadium.The Aeros (42-23) gained a split in the twinbill after Reading won game one, 2-1.

It was nowhere close to the kind of game Indians manager Manny Acta and his players were envisioning on Saturday, as the Pirates tied the three game series with a an easy 9-2 victory. After gaining some momentum shutting out Pittsburgh on Friday, Cleveland never looked as though they ever had control in the ballgame as the Indians offense woes continue. The Indians are now just 12-15 over their last 27 games. Join Jim B. for his Second Thoughts on Saturday's game against the Pirates...

Lake County exploded, with big games from all the names you would expect, but led by one that surprises on a seemingly nightly basis. Nick Weglarz continues to revert to prospect form, with another huge night in the Aeros doubleheader. Tonight's top of the heap in ATF, however, belongs to a couple of guys in Columbus. One who should have been here a long time ago, and another who just got here. Join Jim Pete in this father's day edition of ATF...

After dropping two tough games on Friday, the Columbus Clippers bounced back Saturday night with a 6-1 win over the Gwinnett Braves. Much of the credit for the victory goes to Clippers starter Chris Schwinden (4-5, 2.70 ERA), who pitched seven stellar innings and allowed just one run on three hits. He walked just one and struck out three in the win.

Salem Red Sox produced several clutch hits en route to an 8-6 win over the Carolina Mudcats on Saturday night at LewisGale Field. Of their eight runs, six scored on two-out hits from Red Sox’s hitters. Salem improved to 9-1 against the Mudcats, and clinched the weekend series with one to play.

Michael Brantley is entering rarified air with regards to his current 22-game hit streak, and Ubaldo Jimenez and Justin Masterson have looked like aces. Will these three continue to perform at this level for the rest of the season? We're more than halfway to July, and speculation has begun with regards to teams willing to make a deal. Will the Indians be in on a guy like Alfonso Soriano?

Available IBI Books

The 2014 Cleveland Indians Baseball Insider book featuring the Indians' Top 100 Prospects and more is now available. Also, previous editions from 2008-2012 are also available at a discounted rate. Just click on the book image for more information. Thanks again for all the support!